Zee East alumna researches collection of Native American skulls during undergrad

Monday

Jul 28, 2014 at 12:30 PM

By Lisa.Ermak@hollandsentinel.com(616) 546-4219

The work that 20-year-old Jordi Rivera Prince does gets mixed reviews from friends and colleagues.“I'm a pretty normal person, especially on first impressions, so everyone is surprised when they hear what I study,” the Zeeland East High School graduate said. “Not only because the subject is unique but because they don't peg me as a person who would sit in a basement with dead people every day.”Rivera Prince, who’s entering her junior year at the University of Pennsylvania, is an assistant to the curator of physical anthropology at the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.She spends time studying the museum’s collection of Native American skulls with Janet Monge, the museum’s keeper of physical anthropology.Because of the provisions of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, museums across the country are required to return human remains to the tribes from which they were taken. The Penn Museum has already given back more than 200 artifacts to the Cherokee Indians and the Seminole Indians of Florida.Though the actual bones must be returned, Penn Museum workers are collecting as much data about the specimens as possible so that research can continue after the remains are gone.In addition to standard measurements and dental information, researchers have been taking CT scans of all the museum’s bones. Scans capture intricate details about the skull’s form and can reveal details of the internal structure of the bone. But the CTs aren’t perfect replicas.That’s where Rivera Prince comes in. Her project aims to pinpoint how much CT scans miss. This summer she is evaluating the skulls' epigenetic traits, which are features that can’t be measured metrically.Certain muscle markers on a skull, for example, can confirm whether the person held their head with a tilt to the right or left. And while certain people have a notch on the infraorbital bone, above the eye socket, others have an opening called a foramen.“Epigenetic traits are so interesting because they allow for a little more perspective on the individuality of the person you are studying,” Rivera Prince said.Though some of these traits are unique to an individual, many are heritable and can be used to group populations. Her findings could change the way the department and other forensic anthropologists collect data, and help ensure that researchers are correctly evaluating tribal identity when repatriating remains.“What I really enjoy about this work is that in skeletal analysis, I get to be the voice for someone who doesn't have one. The individuals who I study are not just sitting around neglected, they're being used to answer questions about who we are as humans, and I think that's really awesome.”Rivera Prince plans to pursue a PhD after graduation and work at the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command as a forensic anthropologist. JPAC goes overseas and works to identify the remains of American soldiers who died.— Follow this reporter on Twitter @SentinelLisa.

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